All posts tagged prices

Curbing rapidly rising prices used to be a top priority of China’s policy makers, but things have changed. In fact, last month, the country likely experienced its slowest increase in prices since the global financial crisis. Read More »

Inflation in China remained in check in June as China’s consumer price index posted a year on year 2.3% increase, compared with a 2.5% year-on-year rise in May, the National Bureau of Statistics said Wednesday. Pork, egg and vegetable prices eased, while non-food prices held steady. Read More »

At least one part of the Chinese economy is cooperating with policymakers, judging from Tuesday’s release of inflation data. Moderate consumer price increases in May were essentially in line with expectations — neither high enough to constrain a more accommodative monetary policy should growth weaken further, nor low enough to raise alarm bells over deflation — which should give Beijing’s economic kingpins one less thing to worry about. Read More »

Over the last decade China’s manufacturing industry has undergone a huge shift in popular perception, from the home of sweatshops and wages measured in cents per day to the only high-tech powerhouse capable of producing iPads by the million.

And if you watch closely, there’s a similar shift well underway in perceptions of Chinese consumers.

While food safety issues and the prevalence of knock-off products have made plenty of headlines, the fact that the country is now the world’s most important market for expensive luxury goods is also now well known. And even more affordable consumer offerings can draw a premium price in China, well above what they would attract in the U.S.

China Central Television, in a 20-minute broadcast called “Starbucks: Expensive in China,” said the company charges as much as 50% more for some of its products in China than in the U.S., the U.K. and India.

The report said the company’s profit margin in China was excessive, as high as 32% in China and the Pacific region, compared with 21.1% in the U.S. and 1.9% in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Starbucks said the figures didn’t accurately represent of the company’s Chinese operations because they included financial results from other Asian-Pacific countries in addition to China. The Seattle-based company doesn’t break out its financial information by country. The company “understands the concerns raised by recent Chinese media,” Starbucks said.

A broad swath of firms took positions in Chinese banks in the past decade. But international regulations scheduled to take effect in the next few years require banks to hold extra capital against minority stakes in other financial institutions, making such investments less attractive; GlaxoSmithKline PLC came under new pressure as Chinese state-run news outlets ran reports of employees purportedly detained in a government bribery investigation of the drug maker saying that company executives created a sales culture that led to corruption; from iPads to Starbucks to ice cream and cars, the price of many goods is far higher in China than in many other countries. But consumers there are wising up, thanks to the Internet and increased travel. Read More »

The world’s biggest auto maker hopes a newly redesigned entry-level compact it is rolling out at the Shanghai international auto show will help the company get its zip back in the world’s biggest auto market–but one it has struggled to understand.

Toyota introduced two versions of the compact–the Yaris hatchback and the Vios sedan–at China’s premier auto show Sunday. Toyota hopes the new models will right some strategic missteps that have hurt sales in China, a situation that was exacerbated by a territorial dispute over islands in the East China Sea claimed by both China and Japan, and which led to a boycott of Japanese-brand products last autumn. Read More »

If you’re living in Beijing and feel like your dumpling and roast duck habits have gotten more expensive lately, it might not be your imagination.

According to the latest cost-of-living survey produced by consultancy ECA International, Chinese cities such as Beijing and Shanghai have gotten more expensive for expatriates in the past year. Thanks to currency appreciation and inflation, ECA says, when it comes to day-to-day expenses, both cities outstrip traditionally pricier cities such as Singapore and Hong Kong. Read More »

The hazards of sight-seeing in China are no secret: epic crowds, megaphone-toting guides and aggressive touts. Now, a series of reports in state media are lambasting another unwelcome surprise that often awaits visitors—the meteoric rise in admission prices.

These days, a ticket to enter many Chinese tourist locations–even more humdrum sights in second-tier cities–can cost you more than a trip to the Louvre or, say, Mt. Fiji. That’s because local governments lean heavily on such public sight-seeing spots to fill their coffers, say industry experts. To take one example, the price of one ticket to see the pretty village of Taierzhuang, between Beijing and Shanghai, has more than tripled in just two years. As China’s tourism industry booms, other price hikes are likely to follow: the Global Times, a tabloid run by the Communist Party-backed People’s Daily, reports that price increases this year could range from 20% to a hefty 100%. Read More »

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